A Casteless Moon: The Bureau of Fate
by Fallstavia
Summary: Exalted 2e.  The third story from House of Bells and the Wyld Hunt.  A Lunar Exalt on the Blessed Isle comes to terms with his relationship to his mysterious lover while fending off Sidereal assassins.  Warning: Lots of profanity, and rather violent.
1. Chapter 1

**The 12th Day of Resplendent Wood, 602 in the Year of Our Empress**.

Elated Fury woke up with a hell of a headache. Probably from that star-witch's fist, he thought. For such a little thing, she hit like a yeddim.

He climbed to his feet, shaking off the effects of the fight. There was a little lingering soreness but not much else. Elated Fury's hands were covered with blood, though. That was weird. He hadn't killed Da'nashay and he hadn't touched that green-eyed witch either.

That's when he saw the bodies.

Da'nashay was unconscious on the bed where his lover had left him. The other two hadn't been there when he'd blacked out but they sure were now. He didn't know the man with his chest caved in but there was no mistaking the girl. How many Dragon-Blooded wore the scarlet with no House sigil? That was Iriszy, a daughter of the Scarlet Empress. She was hugely pregnant and now as dead as the man was. Then he noticed the star-witch. Why hadn't he seen her sooner? She was kneeling next to the dead girl and carefully opening the corpse's stomach with a knife. Sure enough, small movements inside suggested the unborn infant was still alive. Elated Fury couldn't help watching with a certain morbid fascination. It was a thing he would have never thought to do.

The green-eyed witch turned and looked him right in the eyes.

"Isn't it time for you to run? You just killed the daughter of the Scarlet Empress and one of her most trusted advisors. If I were you, I would already be out that window."

Just like that, Elated Fury turned and jumped through the window. A few seconds later, as glass rained down with him, he realized that he was thirty stories off the ground. Shit.

And that was the second time she'd done that to him. Fucking star-witches. For all he knew, she'd set him up. It made a lot more sense than killing two people in his sleep.

Elated Fury plummeted down and down. It gave him time to secure his knives and think things over. He'd traveled to the Imperial Manse tonight for one reason alone: he went to kill Captain Da'nashay, a Dragon-Blooded officer of the Legions who was responsible for breaking up one of his operations and murdering his men. Not even the son of the Scarlet empress got away with that sort of conduct, not in Elated Fury's book.

Only it turned out to be a setup by Iriszy, Da'nashay's younger sister and the most likely Dragon-Blooded to build a new House in the next few decades. He grinned ruefully as the wind beat at him. It really was perfect. He should have been more careful.

"This is what happens when you get bored," he said aloud, facing the ground flying up toward him. "You get reckless."

Then he hit.

Elated Fury knew a blinding moment of pain but at least he wasn't falling anymore. With effort, he pulled himself out of the cracked rubble his heavily-muscled body had made of the street. Yeah, broken arm, broken ribs, probably a broken leg there and more internal bleeding than a surgeon would believe. He'd live.

Grunting, Elated Fury lurched forward, grateful that the strange lack of a moon was keeping people indoors tonight. Lunar eclipses weren't common, especially not two in a row, and it made him feel funny as it was. He didn't need witnesses to point and scream "Anathema!" at him too. They'd probably be doing that soon enough, no need to hurry it.

He made it two blocks over before he found a bolthole. The silversmith who owned the shop was part of his fencing operations, a convenient place for people to 'repair' valuable objects that they'd never previously owned. The hatch in the back of his workshop would lead down into the tunnels and, presumably, freedom.

Elated Fury's Anima smoked into a hazy life about him as he shut the door, illuminating the interior. He could have changed his eyes but it would have been more effort and he was tired. Really tired.

"You have been better," the Scripture of Crimson Silver said at his side. He glanced at her, unsurprised that she was there. The Scripture was the closest thing he had to a girlfriend or wife and they'd been lovers for several hundred years now. She put her arm around his waist and he gratefully leaned on her a bit. "You look like a caravan ran you over."

"I picked a fight with a street and lost," he said.

"Unwise."

"No shit, Scarlet." He pulled the hatch open with some effort and clambered down the bars before closing it again, trusting it would remain discreetly concealed. She was waiting for him at the bottom. Of course. "How's Keen Tide?"

"Sleeping," the Scripture said without emotion. His youngest daughter was only a year old so that wasn't surprising. What did surprise Elated Fury was how good the Scripture was with caring for children...when none of them were hers.

"Fine. I think I'm going to have to go to ground again, Scarlet. No help for it. I got set up like I was some kind of amateur. Maybe I am these days." He started down the tunnel, navigating his way through memory.

"Decentralizing your operations does not make you an amateur," the Scripture said firmly. "Nor does trusting your sons to handle administrative matters. Even if they are Dragon-Blooded." The last was said with a bit of an affected sneer.

"Give it a fucking rest, bitch," Elated Fury said, rolling his eyes and looking away from her. It helped him concentrate on where to put his feet in the dark. The underground tunnel system was extensive and sometimes made use of old ruins but this set was all handmade and the ground was rough. "I told you decades ago that you were right. I just don't like Dragon-Bloods, pure and simple. If I'd known those women had Breeding...well, now I stick to peasants."

"Your own blood has mingled with that of the Dragons and you still do not trust the Terrestrial Exalts, even though a dozen number among your children." The Scripture was watching him. He couldn't see her but the weight of her gaze pressed on his skin.

"It's different," he insisted. "They're my boys. I've known them since they were kids. I know their loyalty. You're right, I don't trust the blood of the Dragons. But I trust in mine. And I trust yours."

"Please do not start that again." The Scripture of Crimson Silver voice was sharp. "My answer remains the same. I will not bear you a child."

"Luna fuck me, did it sound like I was asking?" Elated Fury really did roll his eyes this time and his exasperation was not remotely feigned. "I'm over it. I let it drop. What more do you want from me?"

"Your love forever."

Elated Fury stopped. He kept his back to her but he knew how she looked, even in the darkness. The memory of his latest daughter cradled in her arms crept forward. There was something oddly right about it. She always looked that way when holding his children.

For the first time, he thought about it, really thought about it. Another woman might have been uncomfortable with the significant number of other women's offspring in her life over the centuries. But the Scripture of Crimson Silver was...not like other women. At least, he'd always assumed that. Maybe it was time he stopped assuming.

"I can't give you that," he said at last.

"I know."

"You know I care for you, Scarlet."

"I do know," she replied quietly. "Your feelings for me have always been consistent. I know."

"Alright, you know why I can't make you that promise?"

"I know better than you do," the Scripture said. He turned around to look at her but she was indistinguishable from the darkness. That was a choice, of course. When she didn't think about it, the Scripture emitted a very faint rainbow only noticeable in darkness like this. She was refusing to right now.

"Whatever." Elated Fury slowly exhaled and started walking again. "There's this...restlessness in me, Scarlet. Children are great, I love children. I love my boys and my girls have made me proud too. Women, though...it's not the same. Or maybe it's too much the same."

"You do not have a deep, abiding drive to love one to the exclusion of the others," she answered for him. "Much like your children. You do not play favorites with them because you care for them all. As you care for me, as you have cared for most of the woman who bore you offspring."

"Luna's eyes, do you have to be so blunt about it?" Elated Fury said, wincing at how the truth made him look. It was a truth they both tolerated for many years but it didn't make him any more comfortable to hear it spoken.

"I want from you what you cannot give me, Elated Fury. I want that deep, abiding drive. I want your exclusive commitment."

"Then why haven't you left me?" he demanded. "Why stick around with a guy who can't give it to you?"

"Because it is not your choice and it is not your fault." Her words surprised him. Elated Fury half-expected her to be crying like any one else would after saying something like that. She was as tearless as ever, though. "I love you in that way. It is enough for me that you give me what you can, for as long as we both can stand it."

"Women," Elated Fury muttered.

"You are still unsettled," the Scripture said at last, ending the quiet that had grown between them. Elated Fury took a last turn and pulled open a secret door to one of his hidden rooms. The interior wasn't exceptional but it had a bed, clothes, food and all the basic necessities for a man on the run. "Your concerns are broader than Dynastic retribution. Or me. It is time, lover. Tell me what you encountered."

"There was a...witch there," Elated Fury said, reluctantly, sitting on the bed. "A witch like Lingering Whisper. Her eyes were green, not purple, but she had every trick that Faceless Fuck had and then some."

"She defeated you," the Scripture said, making it an observation and not a question. The Scripture of Crimson Silver didn't ask questions, seeming to know everything. In this, Elated thought she was a splendidly typical woman.

"Yeah, she kicked my ass. I'm over it, though. The Wyld Hunt will be after me again and that's what worries me more."

"Tomorrow you may worry about it. Tonight, I want you to come to bed." The Scripture's eyes gleamed beneath her veils and Elated Fury suddenly realized she was tense. She was only tense under one circumstance. "I can taste the glory on your skin, lover. I would drink from it."

"Sure, what the hell." Elated Fury spread his arms and the Scripture of Crimson Silver came to him. One by one, her veils and silks fell from her, laying bare the most perfect body in Creation. The Revealed Scripture kissed him and kissed him again until all concern was gone. Until there was only Her.


	2. Chapter 2

**The 12th Day of Resplendent Wood, 602 in the Year of Our Empress**.

Sivar Kash ducked his head as he cleared the ladder and dropped soundlessly to the floor. A circle of blackness far above promised a way out. He swallowed hard, cleared his throat, cracked his neck and gave his Supervisor a cocky grin.

"I'm ready."

"We'll see."

Lingering Whisper was a skilled Chosen of Endings, nearly a thousand years old and deeply deadly. Sivar Kash looked at his cold, palely cruel features...and watched them shiver, briefly rearranging them into another face. The story went that the other Sidereal lost his face a few centuries back fighting in Malfaes. Even Yu-Shan would be hard pressed to heal that, short of Lingering Whisper bartering with some powerful Gods. Instead, he'd taken a Fate-Demon, a Thiolaxi, and fashioned it into a face. Sivar Kash looked at the visage of a man who looked vaguely like Mnemon and wondered when he'd meet the person it belonged to. Thiolaxi's showed you the future, but not always the way one might expect.

Sivar Kash followed his Supervisor down the surprisingly clean tunnels of the Imperial City's sewer system. A torrent of water ran beneath their feet, fast as a flood. Ancient metal catwalks vibrated slightly but both Sidereals moved with appropriately catlike grace. Lingering Whisper hopped an entire ladder up to land without a sound on the upper landing. Kash followed and flashed a smile as he mimicked the older Sidereal perfectly. Sivar Kash wasn't a novice...but he'd only been a Sidereal for about 50 years. Enough time to hone his skill. Matched against a millennia, though...well, you took pride where you could.

They followed an invisible trail. Kash knew Lingering Whisper had some kind of tracking Charm in use, so he concentrated on watching their backs. Prior Warning probed the future and found little danger...so far. His eyes did the rest of the work. Just because he had a Charm was no excuse to get sloppy. Instead, he kept his starmetal daiklave close in hand.

Lingering Whisper halted in front of a section of rock. A frown creased his mouth before his features molded into a blank slate of flesh. Kash activated his Violet Bier of Sorrows Form Charm. The only time Lingering Whisper wiped away all expression was when before impending battle. He nodded once and watched his Supervisor invoke the Lesser Sign of Endings before pressing a concealed catch on the wall. It slid open and both Chosen of Endings dived inside.

Kash rolled onto his feet amidst a regal bedroom fit for a King. Plush carpet insured absolutely no noise. Big, finely crafted desks and bookcases lined the walls, making the bedroom look more like a giant office than sleeping quarters. There could be no mistaking the Cynis orgy-sized bed in the center of the room, though. A canopy of silk hung down from above, its design suggestive of making a certain impression rather than existing because of its owner's preference. Mounds of pillows and satin blankets finished off the look. A man would bring a woman to a bed like this for only reason.

Lingering Whisper circled the huge bed and Kash flanked the mattress. They both rounded a set of blankets and spotted the man sleeping among them. Elated Fury snored softly, his powerfully built body looking amazingly cut even when relaxed in slumber. He wore a small mustache and his black hair fell loosely about his shoulders, long enough to tie into a ponytail. The elder Chosen of Endings lifted his starmetal staff and nodded to his subordinate. Sivar Kash nodded back and let his daiklave kiss the Anathema's throat. Finally, they caught their quarry. Iselsi Navia would be most pleased to have Yelaren's murderer killed.

Then Kash spotted the woman. She half-seemed to be made of the silk she wore, the way her robes and veils billowed about her. Among a hundred layers of black fabric, inquisitive eyes peered out, sizing him up.

"Your timing is poor," the woman said. "All this time you waited, only to strike now. Foolish." Kash gave her an incredulous look, aggravated that she risked waking the Lunar and that her comments made absolutely no sense.

"It is the proper time, Scripture of Crimson Silver. His time to End." Kash looked past the silk-clad woman at his Supervisor. Lingering Whisper's face remained empty but a slit passed enough for a mouth to handle speech. The young Chosen of Endings studied his elder's stance and learned much from it. Copper Thrush, Kash's Sifu, had taught him a great deal about observation, about the secrets you could pull from your friends and enemies just by watching the smallest cues.

It was the first time Sivar Kash had ever seen Lingering Whisper, legendary demon hunter, frightened.

Elated Fury's eyes blinked open and Kash didn't hesitate. He drew the edge of his sword across the Anathema's throat, parting the flesh like a freshly cut pear. Blood welled out of the vicious wound and the Anathema clawed at his own throat, face drawn into an agonized mask of impending mortality.

"I wonder at your overconfidence," Scripture said. Kash stepped back from the dying Anathema and gave her a once over. The woman had no fear whatsoever. "You presume much, to claim you know how things are to be."

"Of course, I presume. It is my purpose, it is my place. You, of all...things should know that." Lingering Whisper's voice, always raspy, turned harsh as a sword sawing through bone.

"That is presumption. Your kind was never meant to see to matters as important as Endings. You were only instruments of the Maidens and it is only their weakness that gives you this right."

"As Your weakness gave Them that right," Lingering Whisper said. His vacant mask writhed and briefly held an image of...E'lial the Moon-Killer, that odd Chosen of Battles who worked for Iselsi Navia.

Sivar Kash looked between the Sidereal and the Scripture, searching his mind for some clue or context. He'd called her the Scripture of Crimson Silver. Kash vaguely remembered a few references to her in his texts about 30 years ago...which suggested she was a Goddess of some kind. Come to think of it, though, he'd only read a sentence here or there. Either she wasn't important...or no one was supposed to know about her.

The Goddess turned and looked at him. Beneath the veils, those eyes...became mirrors. And Sivar Kash saw an unending future torn with strife and war, where necessity exacted an ever-increasing cost on the Bureau of Fate and upon himself. He saw himself at the Loom of Fate, proud and powerful. Kash then saw himself crossing swords with a Chosen of Battles. And then he saw himself standing alone, tears streaking his face, a city aflame in the background. He blinked hard and shook his head. Nonsense. It meant nothing. Or did it? What was she? What was that he'd seen?

"Now, that's just fucking rude."

The Chosen of Endings looked down, Prior Warning suddenly flaring to life too late. His eyes caught the path of Elated Fury's fist just before it cracked into his jaw, sending him flying across the room. Kash hit the wall hard and took a second to assess if that blow had just snapped his neck.

"Ah, the Faceless Fuck himself," he heard the Anathema say to Lingering Whisper. "How've you been? Working too hard, huh?" Kash's eyes cleared, the black specks fading away, and he saw the Lunar standing on the bed, facing off with the elder Chosen of Endings. Blood painted Elated Fury's neck scarlet but no wound remained. "You really picked the wrong night to fuck with me."

"This is not helpful to you," the Scripture of Crimson Silver said to her evident lover.

"You know, bitch, you could at least look a little surprised. I could be dead. Probably should be dead. Fuck, even I don't know why I'm not dead."

"You are too stubborn to die," the Scripture observed. "Now protect yourself, for your murderer still intends to take your life."

Lingering Whisper made no comment in the exchange. He just went from tension to extension. Hit by a Charm-driven kick, Elated Fury tumbled from the bed...and right into the junior Sidereal's path.

Sivar Kash braced his foot against the wall and sprang forward. He seized the trains of probability and set his blade in the right place, slashing across Elated Fury's chest, sluicing the room with blood. The Chosen of Ending's felt an echoing line of agony slice along his ribs as they passed. Kash rolled, left hand cradling his wounded side, and came up with his weapon ready. Elated Fury sprawled momentarily across the floor before the spin landed him back on his feet. Moonsilver knives suddenly flashed in his hands, pulled from Elsewhere as far as Kash could see. Shit.

"How much am I worth?" Elated Fury crouched like a cornered wolf, endangered but not dead, threatened but bold in response. "Spiritually," the Anathema added. "I'd lie about what I am but you know better. You trying to buy the Dragon's favor by offing me?" Elated Fury's brown eyes flicked over Kash. "How about you, kid? What's in this for you?"

"I get to fuck up an Anathema," Kash said, flicking blood off the edge of his sword. "I need a better reason?"

Elated Fury laughed. "You're the first star-witch I met that I ever liked. It's a shame I have to bust your fucking teeth in."

"Star-witch?" Kash took a turn to laugh. "Try Sidereal. At least I'm not an animal."

"I'm not a fucking animal!"

Elated Fury rushed him, which didn't exactly come as a surprise. Kash knew he had the longer blade so Elated Fury needed to get in close to negate his advantage of range. The Chosen of Ending's purple eyes darted back and forth between the oncoming daggers...and instead of lunging, he stepped back and executed a perfect snap kick to his adversary's face. Essence lent power to the blow and it should have dropped an out of control yeddim.

The Anathema didn't even slow down. Kicking the man was like kicking a wall, only that wall was in motion. Kash toppled backwards and groaned when Elated Fury stepped on his stomach and used it as a springboard for launching an attack on his Supervisor. Lingering Whisper watched the Lunar in flight as the muscle-bound man cleared the bed...and then his Starmetal Soul erupted immaterially from his body. The towering golden form of the Sidereal's Lower Soul roared soundlessly, two large fists held over his head in defiance. Elated Fury had enough time to say "Oh shit" before Lingering Whisper's Soul laid into him with forty individual punches, all before the Lunar could even touch down.

Kash coughed and crawled back on his feet. Blood coated his side but the bleeding had stopped once he'd thought about it. The same could not be said for Elated Fury when the Lunar crashed against one of the bedroom walls. Lingering Whisper stood there...and then suddenly he transposed himself through space, instantaneously in front of Elated Fury. His starmetal staff cracked across the Anathema's face, whipped back and struck his wrist hard enough that the snapping of bone made Kash cringe, then followed it up by reversing his staff and hitting the Lunar in the chest so hard the staff end punctured through Elated Fury's ribcage. The Lunar shuddered at the last blow and blood trailed from his mouth.

"You'd better not be planning to meddle," Kash said to the Scripture of Crimson Silver, raising his daiklave warningly. His Supervisor had the Anathema well in hand but a Goddess might be able to turn the tide if she were strong enough. Maybe he was fairly new to the Bureau but Kash hadn't been Chosen because of his stupidity.

The Goddess had left the room and returned, now holding a year old child in her arms. She rocked the child softly in her arms, coaxing a delighted giggle. Her voice held nothing of softness, though, not a shred of anything remotely compassionate. "I am bound by Oaths that would shatter you into fifty two shards of rippled glass with deep red striations." The Scripture's eyes met his and Kash ducked the stare, remembering what happened last time. "Your bravado is unnecessary, Sidereal. Those Oaths compel my obedience."

"You killed one of ours," Lingering Whisper said to Elated Fury. He ground the staff against the Lunar's broken ribs, twisting the end next to his heart, pinning the man to the wall. "Ending time."

Abruptly, Elated Fury grabbed the staff with both hands and gave a tremendous shove. The Sidereal flew backwards, sprawled across the floor and bounded back onto his feet. Kash cursed, left the veiled woman with the baby behind and bounded onto the bed. Elated Fury pushed himself off the wall as Kash took to the air. Sword overhead, the Chosen of Endings flickered purple with the Lesser Sign of Endings and he invoked his Blade of the Battle Maidens Charm. The starmetal daiklave rode the winds of destiny and Kash's arms shook with impact when the weapon struck Elated Fury in the shoulder, gouging in so deeply it caught against the bone. The Lunar fell to one knee from the sheer force of the blow. Sivar Kash seized his sword, pulled mightily to free it...and realized too late that Elated Fury had raised his arm, shifting the bone to lock the sword in place.

Another fist shot forward, faster than lightning. Kash could almost see it coming, should have been able to get a parry in place or at least get out of the way...but then the fist hit him with all the force of a boulder tumbling down the Imperial Mountain. The Chosen of Ending's feet left the ground. He experienced a dizzying moment of flight before one of the bed's banisters broke his path, snapping in half when his back hit it. At least he'd unlodged his sword and kept a grip on it, at the cost of his arm feeling half-wrenched out of its socket.

A shimmering light rose from Elated Fury like silver kissed shadow rippling around him. A Caste Mark in the shape of a half-moon shone on his forehead. Lingering Whisper walked against the silver and blue Anima, rimmed in a deep purple that somehow meshed with the Anathema's colors. His staff rapped against the floor rhythmically as he walked.

Then Elated Fury moved with that inhumanly quick speed again...and Lingering Whisper shouted ancient words of power that caught the Tapestry of the world...and shut it down.

Sivar Kash halted in the middle of climbing to his feet as the air seemed to turn to stone. With Sidereal perceptions, Kash could see outside of the Secret World in Reverse Charm, but he couldn't move an inch. Neither could Elated Fury.

Lingering Whisper laughed mockingly, a raspy barking sound coming from his ruined throat. He alone moved unhindered. He reached into his Dynastic robes and produced a leather bag. With a flick of his wrist, he unrolled a leather script lined with dozens of knives. The Chosen of Endings snatched them out, one at a time, and stabbed them forward until their points just touched Elated Fury's chest. When he let one go to draw the next, the prior blade stayed in place, frozen like everything else. Lingering Whisper set no less than two dozen knives against the Lunar's body before stepping back. His staff rapped against the ground once more.

And the Tapestry restarted.

Elated Fury jerked powerfully as a score of knives pierced him all across his chest. The Lunar fell to his knees, his face stricken and pale from the horrible wounds. Blood flowed freely from his mouth. Then he grimaced, flexed...and every single knife flew out of him, as if ejected through sheer muscle strength alone. Blood sprayed across Lingering Whisper, causing the elder Chosen of Endings to wipe the viscera from his face. Kash was greatly disturbed to see the spots his Supervisor missed just faded into his face, as if the Thiolaxi had licked them up.

More blood pooled on the floor and the Lunar gasped, sounding exhausted. Kash flanked his Supervisor, sword at the ready. Lingering Whisper's dry chuckle rasped like a file. "Lie down and die."

"You know...I thought Sidereals...would be about...as tough. As me." Elated Fury coughed out an improbable amount of blood, more throwing it up than just clearing his throat. "But you can't beat a Lunar." He coughed again, then looked up. Elated Fury's brown eyes gleamed gold and he grinned like a wolf. "You fight like girls. If you really were one of Luna's, she would fucking slap you like the bitches you are."

Lingering Whisper's face twisted into an expression of absolute rage. Kash wondered how much more strength his Supervisor had. Already, Kash's Anima burned brightly as Lingering Whisper's. They'd both used a huge amount of Essence on this battle, expecting to kill the Lunar several times over by now.

Then the Sidereal shouted again and the Secret World in Reverse shut down the Tapestry once more. Lingering Whisper's body convulsed in the throes of his Charms and his Starmetal Soul rose from his body again, this time flying from the Sidereal. Sivar Kash marveled at the powerful technique, something he was centuries away from managing. It was the only thing he could do as long as his fellow Chosen of Endings held his control of the Tapestry.

Lingering Whisper's physical lips quivered with strain as his Starmetal Soul made a great double-handed fist and smote the paralyzed Lunar squarely in the head. Again, the gleaming gold of the Soul flexed and pounded the Lunar. And again. Each blow smote Elated Fury further into the rock floor. Rendered rigid, every successive hit cracked the stone and forced the Lunar's feet deeper in until they were ankle-deep, shin deep...knee deep, thigh deep. One last blow sank the Lunar in up to his waist.

With a groan, the Chosen of Ending's head lolled to the side as his Starmetal Soul swelled in size. The Sidereal Martial Art channeled all the power of fury and passion...and, with it, a master could do things far beyond the scope of any Agent of Fate. The Lower Soul's hands sank into the ceiling like a child burying their hands on a beach. With a last grunt of effort, the Soul tore the rock above out. Though it didn't fall, caught in the Secret World in Reverse Charm, impending doom hovered over Elated Fury's head. The Lunar was dead and he just hadn't realized it yet. Assuming his entire head didn't split apart from those massive blows delivered moments earlier.

Sivar Kash almost tripped coming out of the Secret World's effects. He had a single second to realize Lingering Whisper had torn out too much of the roof. He Ducked that Fate, shifting his thread into a place across the room. The Tapestry wove him to where he needed to go and Kash leaned back against the far wall, relieved. Lingering Whisper's thread stitched itself into the local Tapestry as well, mapping his Supervisor into the spot on the wall next to him.

And they watched the Lunar vanish beneath tons of rock.

"Fuck." Kash opened up his vest, fished around for a cigar and found it. He pulled it out and winced as the motion of putting it to his lips tugged on his sliced open side. "Light?" he asked. The other Sidereal lit the cigar simply by pointing at it. Kash took a couple of grateful puffs and sighed, relaxing at the incredibly fine taste. "You smoke?"

"No," Lingering Whisper said.

"You?" Kash said, offering the cigar toward the Scripture of Crimson Silver. The Goddess simply stared at him. "Well, don't want you to think I'm being inhospitable." He grinned, flashing his teeth. "Sorry about the mess but, well, this is what happens when you side with Anathema." He let the cigar smoke fill his mouth and reveled in the flavor for a moment. "I have to wonder, though. What's your Audit going to look like?"

"Let Her be," Lingering Whisper said.

"Don't tell me you're going to go soft on her," Kash said, snorting in derision. "She sheltered an Anathema, worse, one who killed an Agent of Fate."

"I do as I please," the Scripture of Crimson Silver said. "As do you." She looked at the pile of rubble Elated Fury was buried under. When she looked back, her eyes were mirrors again. "_**You who presume to speak for Endings, know this**_." The Scripture, despite the child she cradled against her breasts, in that moment seemed less tangible and more an undeniable force of reality. She looked at Kash's Supervisor first. "_**Your Sign will bring an End to others until the day comes when its pronouncement will be upon you...and the Betrayer will be your Ruin**_." Lingering Whisper's demon-wrought face flickered into a woman's face and, oddly, it resembled Iselsi Navia's. "_**As for you, Sivar Kash, one day your sword will bring an Ending that will not End. When it returns for you, no power you possess can turn your Fate aside**_."

"That supposed to scare me?" Kash said.

"Let Her be," the older Chosen of Endings said again. "She's immune to prosecution and She knows it. You're not old enough to know why. Just remember She can't really see the future." Kash's Supervisor lifted his head proudly and walked by her, moving toward the pile of rock. "She's powerless. Let's get the body."

It was the most words in a row Kash had ever heard his Supervisor say. He felt a moment of regret that Copper Thrush was off dealing with some crisis in the Scavenger Lands, leaving him stuck with the Capital Convention and its senior Chosen of Endings, Lingering Whisper. Kash knew his Sifu would not be so annoying to work for. At least he'd learn something instead of putting up with the always-quiet Lingering Whisper.

The two Sidereals set to work on the rubble, pulling the rocks aside. Once they uncovered a patch of cloth, Lingering Whisper gestured and Kash backed off, drawing his daiklave again. Nothing could have survived that flurry of blows from an elder Chosen of Ending's Starmetal Soul, much less a cave-in. But Agents of Fate died when they got careless. Yelaren, Chosen of Journeys, had been proof of that. They would take no chances with his killer.

Then Elated Fury erupted from the rubble, pelting them with chips of stone. Kash saw a Moonsilver knife slice the air and only an Auspicious Excellency Charm kept it from laying open his throat the way he'd laid open Elated Fury's. The Lunar's booted foot cracked against Lingering Whisper's forehead, staggering the Sidereal. Then Elated Fury's other knife dove for Kash's chest.

He summoned up the very last dredges of Essence, Ducking this Fate by writing himself outside of the room...and Elated Fury's other foot crushed his against the floor. Foreign Essence vied against Kash's and the Sidereal's purple eyes went wide when he realized the Lunar had somehow pinned Kash's pattern in the Tapestry in place. Oh shit. He shuddered as a knife stroke plunged inside his stomach, wicked cold and cruelly unnatural, forcing metal where it had no business belonging. Elated Fury's blood-streaked face curled into an expression half-grin, half-snarl. "Time to sit this one out, champ," Elated Fury said. Kash saw Lingering Whisper rushing the Lunar from behind and all the Anathema did was snatch the cigar from the junior Sidereal's mouth. "Thanks."

The starmetal staff flared a molten magenta streaked with a terrible crimson as Kash fell weakly to the ground, dropping his sword to stop up the red warmth flowing out of the holes in his stomach. Lingering Whisper's purple Anima flared so brightly it almost outshone Elated Fury's and he brought his weapon against the Lunar's head with enough Essence-driven force to crack a mountain in half. Elated Fury stood there, smoking Kash's cigar and grinning down at the junior Sidereal. The Anathema cocked his head, popped his neck and turned around.

"Nice try, you Faceless Fuck."

"What!" Lingering Whisper's face lightened, looking frightened. Or maybe that was the Thiolaxi. The elder Chosen of Endings whipped his staff across Elated Fury's face, reversed grip and smote the man with the other end, then brought it down like a falling tree trunk right across the Anathema's face. The Lunar's body rocked with each impact but he just stood there, grinning. "How?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Elated Fury puffed on Kash's cigar. "You should be pulling out all the stops now. I've taken everything you can throw but now you're just fighting with basic Charms. No more big flashy kicks and time stops and shit." The Lunar blew a stream of smoke into Lingering Whisper's face. "You tried to run me down but look who's out of breath. I think...you're empty. But guess what, motherfucker." Elated Fury's grin looked wolfish. "I'm not."

Lingering Whisper tried to Duck Fate. He had no better success than Kash had when Elated Fury's foot pinned him to the floor...and then the Lunar's knives cut through Dynastic robe and glanced of the starmetal bone lacings Lingering Whisper wore underneath. The Sidereal laughed, hit Elated Fury's chin with his knee and maneuvered for room to use his staff. Elated Fury just tossed his knives onto the bed and jumped his opponent.

Both men rolled across the floor, struggling for a grip. Lingering Whisper's Starmetal Soul rose from his body, a swollen Iconic figure of shining gold. Elated Fury cried out as the Soul gripped his head between both hands and squeezed. Lingering Whisper landed a perfect kidney shot with his real right hand, then screamed louder than Elated Fury when the Lunar's arm roped around his, squeezed and broke it. The Starmetal Soul faltered as the Sidereal's concentration slipped from the pain. Then Elated Fury caught Lingering Whisper by the throat, hauled him close and threw him across the room.

Sidereal and Lunar rose, both breathing hard, both streaked with blood. Lingering Whisper stood in the Unleashed Starmetal of the Soul Form, his every motion almost ghostly with his lower soul ready to lash out. Elated Fury bobbed around him, hands held up, like a tavern boxer. The Lunar took the first shot and received a Starmetal Soul's fist across his face for his trouble. He stumbled but suddenly darted forward. Lunar fingers caught at Lingering Whisper's starmetal armor and tore the entire front half of the suit off. The Sidereal blocked the follow up punch with his arm, hit Elated Fury three more times with his Soul, then cried out when the Anathema got hold of his unbroken arm and made it match the other with a loud crack.

"You've got a choice, star-witch," Elated Fury said, backing off, puffing still on the cigar that somehow had stayed in his mouth through the entire brawl. "I can break the rest of your limbs or you can grab your mouthy friend over there and get the fuck out of my room. I will let you walk out of here or I can leave you here crippled. Either way, I'm gone. Up to you, champ."

"Why?" Sivar Kash gasped, feeling faint. He managed to keep his composure steady, despite the feeling that he might black out soon. The blood loss had finally stopped but Kash knew he stood within inches of his mortality.

Elated Fury waved Kash's cigar at him. "I could kill you both...but then more of you will try. And I have better things to do than duck fucking star-witches the rest of my life. I'm letting you boys go so you can tell whatever Wyld Hunt you work for to back the fuck off. I've had to kill twenty-three snake-bloods in the century alone. I could have killed you two. So get it through your thick fucking heads that you can't bring me down. Go tell whoever you report to that this Anathema will rip your fucking throats out with his teeth if you don't get off his back. Clear enough for you?"

"Doesn't work that way," Kash said, suddenly weary. He was still conscious at least. "You're a demon."

"And I'm bored." Elated Fury tapped out the cigar on his boot and flicked it at Kash. "Oh yeah. Switch to imported Varangian. This Blessed Isle shit isn't worth the jade."

Lingering Whisper walked by the Anathema and crouched down next to Kash. "Can you walk?" Kash stared into the purple eyes so like his own and nodded, knowing his Supervisor couldn't carry him with two broken arms. Painfully, Kash climbed to his feet, using his daiklave as a lever. He leaned on Lingering Whisper long enough to sheath his sword before looking back.

Elated Fury and the Scripture of Crimson Silver were both gone.

"Well, this turned out a bust." Both Sidereals limped out of the room and down the tunnels of the Imperial City's underways. Kash swayed several times, dizzied, but kept going. "So now what?"

"We report." Lingering Whisper barely managed to keep hold of his staff but his face looked as relentlessly impassive as ever. Now that Kash thought about it, having a demon for a face meant keeping whatever expression you felt like. "And then we get cleaned up for the party."

"What party?"

"Read your memos," Lingering Whisper said. "Amoth City-Smiter's party. Even after this, we cannot afford to miss it."

"Oh, that party." Kash smiled as the ladder to the surface came within sight. "I'm looking forward to it. I've heard his affairs are a great place to make connections. Who knows? I might get a posting in this Convention after all."


	3. Chapter 3

**The 12th Day of Resplendent Wood, 602 in the Year of Our Empress**.

There were nights in the Imperial City where the weather was nice, the harvest so plentiful, and prosperity so abundant that even the lowest street-rat could take the night off. Elated Fury hadn't been a street-rat in...well, it was longer than any mortal lifetime. But he was proud that his other responsibilities kept him close to the streets, helping him to remember what it was like, where he came from. Tonight, the lunar eclipse left the city far darker than usual and it seemed everyone had settled into slumber. Right now, a peaceful silence descended that only came once in a lifetime.

Tonight was a night off.

He'd kicked the shit out of two star-witches and came out on top. A hot bath, a new set of clothes and Elated Fury felt in top form once again. He heard cooing in his arms and grinned down at Keen Tide, his youngest daughter. The little girl was a year old now, quite a handful but a welcome one. A few hundred years ago, a night like this would have been spent whoring it away. He wasn't that man anymore, though. If he wanted a screw, he could get one morning, noon and night. He'd be damned if he was going to ruin a perfect evening over something that trivial.

Elated Fury had his life. He had his daughter. And the Scripture of Crimson Silver, of course.

"The Imperial City has a different feel to it," Elated Fury said, enjoying the feeling of the night air. The Scripture of Crimson Silver stopped staring at the empty night sky and looked at him. The black silks and veils she wore masked her expression but he'd learned to read her every mood an age ago. She was annoyed at being interrupted. That was the Scripture for you. "When it's not struggling to thrive," he added, clarifying. "The First-Age buildings are surprisingly nice to look at when you don't have to keep your eyes on the streets. Look, Scarlet."

On a cloudless night like this, the city glowed slightly despite the lack of moonlight. It looked magical. Naturally, it was. But that wasn't the point. Elated Fury bit on the stem of his pipe, puffed contentedly at the poppies merrily smoldering in the bowl, and jiggled his giggling daughter. That was the point. Keen Tide wasn't even a year old and Elated Fury knew he wouldn't get a chance to spend much time with her. Life had long ago passed that kind of freedom by. It made him grateful for the moment.

"I would rather look at the moon." The Scripture of Crimson Silver turned her head back and resumed watching where Luna should be in the sky.

"She's not up there right now. What's She to you, anyway?" Elated Fury asked. "You're not a Lunar. Are you looking for inspiration?"

"I do not watch for Luna because I need to. I watch for Her because She needs me to."

That was too enigmatic to be worth pursuing. When the Scripture started talking like that, it was time to tell the conversation to fuck off.

"You are unsettled," the Scripture said at last, ending the long silence that had grown between them. "You find yourself short on work. You have accomplished all you wanted and still you live. You wonder what to do next. You are a king with a secure throne, Elated Fury. But you would have an empire."

"Would I?" He scratched his chin absently, thinking it over. "I don't think so. There's a bit more growth I'd like to do, mostly in geography, but I don't want to deal in slaves, wetwork or black magic and those are the only niches left that we don't have a hand in."

"Perhaps it is something else then." She brushed at a small lock of hair on his daughter's head.

"You tell me, Scarlet." He puffed on his pipe.

"You are sensitive to criticism, but selectively. Your disposition with your lieutenants and sons is as serene as ever but there is tension between us. Your reactions with me are different." The Scripture might have been talking about the latest book she'd read, for all the emotional inflection in her voice.

"Fuck, speak Low Realm," Elated Fury said, shaking his head.

"You understand me. I think you know why." The Scripture of Crimson Silver turned her head again and the veils stirred in a light evening breeze. "Its heart is in my refusal to give you a child."

"Luna fuck me, do we have to bring that up again?" Elated Fury's exasperation was not remotely feigned. "I'm over it. I let it drop."

"This is not working."

Elated Fury took the pipe from his mouth and slowly looked at his lover. For nearly three centuries, they'd kept each other's company. He did not ask when she left about her business and she did not press him on his people, his activities or his past times. Always they'd shared an uncanny intimacy and honesty. The Scripture of Crimson Silver was not like any woman he'd ever known. What woman would cradle and care for his children sired on others? None of his lovers had ever shown her constancy, her even if sharp temperament, nor her tolerance for the man he was. The Scripture asked for nothing but his love and attention when she wanted it.

But it wasn't working. He couldn't give her want she wanted. And she couldn't give him what he wanted. Maybe the Scripture was more like other women than he thought.

Elated Fury took a deep breath. "What are you saying, Scarlet?"

"Each of us carry a pain we bring upon ourselves," she said. The Scripture scooted up to his side and slipped her silk-clad arm around his waist. "What we believe in defines us in ways this existence can scarcely define. You are a rare man, Elated Fury. You have shaped your beliefs as much as they have shaped you...and what you set out to do, you do. Yet you do not succumb to temptation, to the easy path, to the way of weakness."

"Temptation and I are plenty acquainted," the Lunar said.

"You have done something no one has in a thousand years, Elated Fury. Because of your heart, you have shaped yourself. Look and see." The Scripture of Crimson Silver held up her hand and the air rippled about it, a sudden silver gleam stirring the air like water until it turned reflective. She showed him his face and his Caste Mark shone with a coolly serene light, the silver half-crescent that only came a few days a month.

Elated Fury blinked in sudden understanding. He looked up into the sky...and no, Luna's face still hid from the world. Calibration had nights like this and his Caste Mark had always shown that lack. Not tonight. Fuck, tomorrow night was a full moon. His Caste Mark was wrong, entirely wrong for this time of month eclipse or not.

"What the fuck is going on?" he asked.

"You are a Half Moon Lunar," the Scripture said. "And it seems your Caste has settled. Your future is now set before you. As mine is for me."

"You're leaving," Elated Fury said, turning away from the sky and looking at the Scripture, searching out her eyes through her many veils. "Don't go."

"I must." She did not smile or sigh but only gave him the same expression she always wore. That was the Scripture. Either she looked serene or annoyed. Elated Fury always held out the hope that someday he'd see something else. It hadn't occurred to him until now that he might not get that chance. "You will hurt me if I stay or you will hurt yourself. I cannot tolerate this. My love." She caressed his face and suddenly she smiled. Elated Fury's breath left him at the sight of such glory. Her lips when they touched his face burned into his flesh, etching an indelible pattern upon his soul. "One day, there will be a woman for you. You two are meant for each other, my love. And you will find happiness with her."

"Will I?" Elated Fury stared at her and, to his surprise, she looked away first.

"I don't know. You are not the person you were before. Perhaps you will not be again. Would you love me if you did not love her?" The specific question surprised the Lunar as much as the fact that she'd actually asked him something did. In his entire life, he'd heard her ask a question all of five times. Including this one. So Elated Fury gave it thought, as much as he could given he didn't understand who this woman would be or anything else about the situation.

"I've loved you 300 years, Scarlet. I don't see that ever changing."

"Nor will I ever cease loving you all the days of your life, man that I love. Nor will the day you die see an end to that love. Always it will endure, just as I do." The Scripture smiled fondly at his daughter, Keen Tide, and caressed the child's cheek. Then she touched his face and said, "Goodbye."

And she was gone, vanishing as she could whenever moonlight touched her. Elated Fury touched his lit Caste Mark ruefully, recognizing it had given her the chance to disappear. He looked out over the dark night in the Imperial City. His fingers strayed to the place on his cheek where her lips had touched him. The heat of her kiss still burned and he rubbed it, tears suddenly stinging his eyes. She'd left...and she would not be coming back.

Elated Fury sighed deeply and hugged his daughter tightly, hoping for her sake that future would treat her more kindly in love than it had him. He bowed his head, taking comfort in the warm child in his arms. The Lunar didn't notice when the Goddess Luna stepped down from the sky, the Scripture of Crimson Silver at Her side, nor did he notice their touch when they placed a hand on his shoulders.

But the ache in his heart eased. And when he looked back at the nighttime sky, Elated Fury's wolf-gold eyes gleamed beneath the Mark of a Half-Moon.


End file.
